Highlights: 2024 FIFA Women's Global Transfer Report

Taylor Vincent
Taylor Vincent, Resident NWSL ExpertJanuary 30, 2025
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2024 FIFA Global Transfer Report

Today FIFA published its breakdown of the 2024 women’s soccer global transfer report. 2024 showed another year of record growth with $15.6 million spent on international transfers—more than double the $6.1 million spent in 2023. 2024 also saw a 20.8% increase in the total number of international transfers going from 1,890 in 2023 to 2,284. There was also an increase in the number of transfers with fees up to 8.7%. 


Image 1: Spending on transfer fees and number of clubs with fees, 2024 FIFA Global Transfer Report

The Summer transfer window, which overlaps with the traditional european schedule offseason and the NWSL’s midseason window saw almost 60% of all transfers and spending with a peak in April as the NWSL’s primary window was coming to a close. 


Image 2: Distribution of number of transfers and spending on transfer fees across the year in 2024, 2024 FIFA Global Transfer Report

The majority of transfers (84.6%) were for players who were out of contract–free agents–and almost all of the international transfer money was spent on players making permanent transfers 


Image 3: Distribution of number of transfers and value of transfer fees by transfer type, 2024 FIFA Global Transfer Report

The number of transfers which included a sell-on fee increased in 2024, with 92 of the transfers including such a clause. Although it increased almost 70% compared to 2023, at 30.8% it is still well below the levels in men’s football, which are close to reaching 50%. 

Although the FIFA report does report the top five transfer fees of the year across the globe, there is no transparency into official numbers past what writers are able to report. 


Image 4: Top five transfers by size of transfer fee (2024), 2024 FIFA Global Transfer Report

The average length of international transfers was 14.9 months for 2024, with most contracts lasting between six and 12 months. Only 2.3% of contracts were over three years. In a similar trend to the men’s professional landscape, younger players were the most likely to receive the longest contracts with players under 18 averaging contracts of 29.1 months, and then a solid dropoff in the 18-23 bracket with average contracts around 16.2 months. 


Image 5: Distribution of contract duration in international transfers, 2024 FIFA Global Transfer Report

With 131 different nationalities involved, the United States had the most players transferred internationally (246 transfers), with Brazil (121), United Kingdom (104), Colombia (98), and Nigeria (77) rounding out the top five. 


Image 6: Player nationality by number of international transfers in 2024, 2024 FIFA Global Transfer Report

At $1.9 million, Brazilian players accounted for the highest spending on transfers fees in 2024, followed by Zambia ($1.6 million), Sweden ($1.3 million), France ($900k), and Spain ($700k). Forty-Five of the 131 nationalities involved in a transfer had at least one player transferred for a fee. 

Looking at all of the transfers in 2024, a little over 60% were between clubs in the same confederation with almost 43% occurring between two clubs in UEFA (European Federation). Players moving from Europe to Concacaf (USA, Mexico, Canada, etc) were the second-largest with 156 transfers. 


Image 7: Number of transfers between and within confederations, 2024 FIFA Global Transfer Report

UEFA clubs account for over half of all spending on transfer fees, with over $8 million spent in 2024, Concacaf clubs spent the second highest amount, with almost $7 million spent. Most of the transfer fees went to clubs in UEFA – 73%, equalling $11.2 million. 

The United States had the most incoming transfers with 184, with the top five rounded out by Spain (120), England (117), Sweden (92), and Germany (79). England was the country with the most outgoing transfers with 123, followed by Spain (119), United States (107), Sweden (86), and Turkey (85). In 2024, 87 associations had at least one incoming transfer and 129 had at least one outgoing transfer. 

As far as spending goes, clubs from the United States were the biggest spenders ($5.8 million), with England ($4.5 million), Spain ($1.4 million), Mexico ($1.1 million), and Italy ($0.6 million) following behind. In terms of receiving, Spain let the way with $2.6 million coming into its clubs. England had the second most at $1.9 million, followed by Sweden ($1.5 million), Brazil ($1.4 million), and France ($1.4 million). 


Image 8:Top three transfer streams by number of transfers and spending on transfer fees, 2024 FIFA Global Transfer Report

There were 695 clubs involved in international transfers, the top twenty spending clubs in 2024 included eight of the 14 NWSL clubs, with Bay FC top across the globe. Orlando was fourth, followed by Houston in fifth. Utah, Portland, and North Carolina were eight, tenth, and eleventh respectively. Seattle (thirteenth) and Washington (fifteenth), round of the NWSL’s positions in the table. 


Image 9: Top 20 clubs by spending on transfer fees, 2024 FIFA Global Transfer Report

 


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